2015 Exercise Log/Challenge

[ny biker]

There are several reasons why I don't do any bike touring, and food is one of the big ones. I've found that any stomach problems I might have during long rides are caused by eating the wrong foods the day or so before the ride. It's easy enough to control that when I'm riding a couple of times a week during my normal routine, but I worry about having to rely on eating out all the time on multi-day tours. Just going out of town for a one-day bike ride can be a challenge.

Do you keep a food diary? That might help to show patterns that you can correlate with how you feel, especially if you include notes on your activities each day.

[Crankin]

I just can't live my life like that. I love traveling, am a serious foodie, and I love to cook. I also eat out at least once, sometimes twice, a week. I feel like a wimp compared to others. When I eat at home or even in restaurants in my area, I am OK, although if it's a special occasion, sometimes I eat stuff I don't usually eat. I know what bothers me. Some of it is healthy stuff, of which I eat more of now, like veggies, especially broccoli and Brussel Sprouts. Too many beans are not good. I don't drink milk, and if I eat plain yogurt, I take Lactaid. Cheese does not bother me. Lentils, some of the time. Even when I go out, I usually order healthy stuff, it's just different. For the past 9 months I've been eating a mostly Mediterranean diet, chicken, fish, and vegetarian meals. I cannot live on a diet of plain chicken, potato, and bland veggies. I love ethnic foods, like Mexican and Italian, but have given up pretty much all Asian foods. I can eat spelt bread daily and even really good whole wheat bread a couple of times a week, but I do restrict this. The stomach thing is kind of separate from the allergy stuff/achiness/feeling like a truck hit me, although it can occur together. I know how to control the exercise stuff, but really, two summers ago, when I was in Italy, I was not going to refuse any food, unless it was something I was allergic to. So, I had a couple of miserable days, due mostly to a combination of lack of sleep, eating, wine, and some hiking. In Portugal, I didn't have espresso at every café stop each morning during our rides, nor did I eat pastries. But, I didn't hold back on my dinners. Breakfast and lunch were pretty normal for me, just more meat at times. Besides riding, food is a major activity in my life, and has been since I was a kid. My brother is the same way, even though we lead very different lives. My mom was a fabulous cook and entertainer and we both got that from her.
I am not going to end uplike the stereotypical old Jewish lady who complains non-stop about what she can't eat and her digestive issues! Really, I control it as much as I can at home, and am still trying to figure out a few more things, but my lifestyle isn't going to change. Some of this is inherited, as I have 2 relatives with serious colitis. The single one thing I found out when I had all that testing in 2007 is that I have a weird genetic marker for colitis, so most likely this is what's going on. Allergies and autoimmune stuff run in my family, so, I try to deal as much as I can. It's just frustrating.

[Crankin]

Rest day.
Stomach is fine. I had minor autoimmune symptoms from yesterday's workout (some achiness, joints hurting); also had disrupted sleep last night and my alarm woke me up, very unusual. Better now. Boot camp in the morning. Hoping it's not icy.

[Catrin]

Good kb training session tonight. My shoulders "altered anatomy" means I can really only compete in one lift if I want to avoid more injuries. It is frustrating as I want to think I am 30 again. Truth is, however, the shoulder has likely been like this since age 12 so there it is. I do love what I CAN do and my coach keeps me out of trouble.

I've also asked my Dr for a less toxic NSAID for my osteoarthritis...I had forgotten how bad it is since the Voltaren has controlled my symptoms so very well. The replacement plus Voltaren gel isn't as effective but I want to give it a chance. I want to focus on my activities, not on how much my hands and neck hurts.

Crankin, I feel for you, colitis is far from fun. Hang in there!

I am off to the gym before work and rowing 8 or 10K. We have an intense training session tomorrow morning so I don't want to overdo it on the rower today.

[Crankin]

Went to boot camp before work; regular person is back. Good class, stomach fine, although I hink I need to buy some gas-x.
Hoping to get one, maybe 2 rides in this weekend.

[Catrin]

Back to training this morning. My coach wouldn't allow me to do any competition work, he had me to more general KB fitness work instead and closely monitored my selection of KB weight. No pain or real discomfort so that was good. I am considering just taking a full rest for Christmas week, or limiting it to things that don't require arms. Ok, so I am not allowed to do THOSE things, but I CAN go walking so hopefully the weather will permit. I will see how things go next week and what my Chiro has to say when I see him Tuesday.

[Crankin]

I stuck to my word and took a very short ride today. It was 38 degrees, mostly sunny, with a bit of a wind, not too much. This ride includes a downhill to start,then a mile climb, some flat/rolling, before I get back to my neighborhood, where I climb again for 3/4 of a mile. It's only 8.5 miles, but I was out there for about 45 minutes, because I also rode around my driveway, testing stuff! First I was cold, then I was overdressed. But, I feel really good now... tomorrow will be about 25 miles.

[Catrin]

Sounds fun Crankin!

[Catrin]

Started the day out with my weekly long indoor row - "paddled" for just over 12,000 meters in just at 70 minutes. Not very fast compared with others, but a PR for me I've an eventual first goal of rowing 1 million meters, and I am approaching a 10th of the distance :-) I've no goal as to a target date, I know better than that I WILL admit that an audio-book makes this much easier.

[Crankin]

Well, I didn't get quite to 20 miles, as I needed to be back to meet the person coming to look at my old bike.. but a glorious ride in good temperatures. About an hour and 15 minutes of ride time, 18.5 miles.

[Crankin]

Boot camp yesterday. Thought I would ride to work today, but it's not quite as warm as I thought and they were saying there could be black ice this morning. I did a half hour of yoga this morning at home. Tomorrow is my bike group's annual Chanukah party; there is a choice of a 4 mile hike or 37 mile ride before the party. Right now, there is rain predicted through just about the time the ride will start, but it's going up to 50. Not sure what I'll do. They may cancel the ride. Last year I did the hike, which I think would not be so pleasant if it has rained all night, as I remember it being kind of icy/rocky in places.

[Bones8]

I just found this thread and added my row. I am confused though - I thought it is for a 4 month goal but everyone else has it set at 3 months (not that it matters, I'm just curious). We are only counting cycling hours right?

[Catrin]

I just found this thread and added my row. I am confused though - I thought it is for a 4 month goal but everyone else has it set at 3 months (not that it matters, I'm just curious). We are only counting cycling hours right?

It is for whatever exercise you want to record. Some of us have found that logging our activities really helps this time of the year.

[Crankin]

So, it rained until about 8 AM today, but the ride portion of my club's Chanukah party was cancelled, probably, a bit too hastily, due to wet roads, etc. It's 48-50 out! There was also a scheduled hike, and that stayed, so I did the 4 mile hike, which was OK, a bit slow for me, but still good. I went back for the party, and they were really slow getting the food out, so I had some veggies and hummus, half a glass of red wine and 3/4 a bottle of beer. I was pretty good with the food, one teeny latke, a little turkey and kugel, salad, and one small little tart thing for dessert. I avoided the stuffing and the molten chocolate cake. I thought about running home before the lunch and riding, but it seemed rude.
I am not stuffed, but I have a retirement party tomorrow night...

[Catrin]

Sounds to me like you had fun :-)

Last night only two of us showed, me with my strained bicep tendon and another competition training partner with bone bruises from snatches. Our coach really didn't have us do anything outside of flexibility and mobility work, but we pretty much did a full hour of that. Rest day today - as much as I WANT to play with my kettlebell herd in my back room...but we've class tomorrow night. Perhaps I will be up for doing something, we will see. 7 weeks from our competition, which means I certainly can afford to back off for a couple weeks and let this heal. No need to stop everything, all my medical peeps said I don't need to do that, but nothing explosive.

Tonight I will do more stretching and mobility work, perhaps accompanied with a hot buttered rum...to help my muscles relax, yeah, that's it!